In recent years, exercise equipment manufacturers have introduced machines having whole body vibration (WBV) technology. The idea behind WBV technology is to impart vibrations to the human body, oftentimes as an individual is exercising, stretching, or being massaged. The frequency of WBV technology ranges to some degree, but manufacturers typically utilize frequencies between 20 and 70 hertz (Hz). The benefits of using WBV technology have been shown to include improved muscle tissue, arthritis relief, hormone stimulation, improved blood flow, improved bone density, and general rehabilitative therapy for joints, ligaments, tendons, and the like. However, it is believed that still more benefits have yet to be recognized.
In the brief history of WBV exercise machine technology, manufacturers have designed WBV machines that provide a vibrating platform on which users sit or stand while exercising or stretching. These WBV machines typically provide a handrail similar to those seen on an elliptical machine or a treadmill. These handrails, though, do not vibrate and are not intended to provide WBV. Rather, these handrails are intended to serve as a means for stabilizing the user while exercising, stretching, standing, etc. As a result, the effects of the vibration are substantially limited to the user's feet, or legs at best. Thus, existing WBV machines do not necessarily provide “whole” body vibration, but merely provide general, unfocused vibration from only the platform of the device.
One more-recent piece of exercise equipment that attempts to implement WBV technology is a climbing machine. The climbing machine provides two steps for a user's feet and two handles for a user's hands. In one mode, the user may perform a basic climbing motion by sliding his or her left and right extremities up and down (perhaps in a somewhat circular motion) on an alternating basis. Regardless of which mode is used, the climbing machine can vibrate the steps, handles, or steps and handles as a user stands on the ground or the steps. In the alternative, the user may sit on a vibrating seat.
One of the disadvantages with the climbing machine, though, like other WBV machines, is that the climbing machine cannot offer the user a WBV experience that targets the upper body. Although the handles of the climbing machine may vibrate, the user's weight is still supported by his or her legs, whether standing on the ground, standing on the steps, or sitting on a chair. Thus, in contrast to the experience a vibrating foot plate provides to a user's lower torso, no meaningful vibrations are imparted from the handles of the climbing machine to the user's upper torso.
Therefore, it is desirable to have exercise equipment that offers a user a WBV experience that can target the lower and upper body either together or separately and provide a meaningful WBV experience. The present invention solves this and other disadvantages of the prior art.